— Japan Dec Retail Auto Sales -24.1% Y/Y; Nov -26.6%
— Japan Dec Retail Machinery Sales -9.4% Y/Y; Nov Rev +48.4%
— Japan Dec Retail Fuel Sales +4.8% Y/Y; Nov Revised +8.3%
— Japan 2010 Retail Sales +2.5%; 1st Rise In 2 Yrs; 2009 -2.3%

TOKYO (MNI) – Japanese retail sales fell 2.0% in December from a
year earlier, posting the first year-on-year decline in two months, as
sales of automobiles and consumer electronics plunged, data from the
Ministry of Economy, Trade and Industry released on Friday showed.

The December figure came in much weaker than the median forecast
for a 0.3% gain in a Market News International survey of economists. It
followed a revised 1.5% rise in November and a 0.2% drop in October.

Automobile sales tumbled 24.1% year-on-year in December, the third
consecutive y/y fall (-26.6% in November and -23.9% in October), after
the government ended subsidies for buying fuel-efficient vehicles in
September.

In addition, sales of machinery and equipment including consumer
electronics fell 9.4% on year, the first drop in 16 months, after
showing a revised 48.4% surge in November.

Many shoppers rushed to retail stores before Dec. 1, when the
government halved the reward points it offers for buying TVs, air
conditioners/heaters and refrigerators that require less power to
operate. This caused a pullback in sales of consumer electronics in
December.

Meanwhile, fuel sales rose 4.8% from a year earlier in December,
marking the 13th consecutive y/y rise, on rising gasoline and heating
oil prices. The pace of y/y gains slowed from a revised 8.3% rise in
November.

The average price of regular gasoline in Japan rose to Y137.8
($1.68) per liter, or $6.38 per gallon, this week from Y137.1 last week,
posting the eighth straight weekly rise. The average price this week was
up by 7.2% from Y128.5 per liter seen a year earlier.

Retail sales have recovered from -5.7% in February 2009, which was
the largest y/y drop in seven years. In January 2010, retail sales rose
2.3%, the first y/y gain in 17 months and have risen every month since.

In 2010, retail sales rose 2.5% in 2010, the first rise in two
years, after falling 2.3% in 2009.

Other details from the latest data:

Commercial sales, or combined sales at the wholesale and retail
levels (y/y): December +3.6%, the 10th consecutive y/y rise, following
+5.2% in November and recovering from the record drop of -24.3% marked
in May 2009.

Sales at the wholesale level (y/y): December +5.8%, the fifth
consecutive y/y rise after +6.6% in November and recovering from the
record fall of -30.3% hit in May 2009.

Large retail store sales on a same-store adjusted basis (y/y):
December -1.8%, the first fall in three months, following a +0.1% in
November.

Large retail store sales, unadjusted (y/y): December -1.2%, also
the first fall in three months, after +0.7% in November.

tokyo@marketnews.com
** Market News International Tokyo Newsroom: 81-3-5403-4835 **

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